Doomsday
by EverMoment
Summary: A failed mission and feelings of guilt. Lucy decides to do something against her being weak. But things never work out as planned and she ends up in a travelling through Earthland and entrusted with urgent information concerning her guild. How is she going to train, not getting killed in process, get along with her companion -an assassin by the way- AND save Fairy Tail?
1. Learning to Stand

_1._

_Learn to Stand_

Pain shot up her right leg. Her head felt like about to melt. It was all her fault. It was her freaking fault, that her precious nakama were trapped in this thorny root-complex. Erza next to her moaned faintly, sweatdrops ran down her face. Gray was grabbing his left hip, which had been pierced by a spike, grinding his teeth. Natsu just lay there. No signs of life. She didn't even know where Happy went. As she raised her head to look for the blue cat, her vision blurred. The ground came closer. Shit. The barbs of this tree were poisonous after all. Damn it…

* * *

"Lu…cy…Come on…Lucy! Oi Lucy! Lucy wake up!"

Her eyes snapped open. Fragments of her memory rushed into her mind and she abruptly sat up. Definitively a bad idea.

"Itaiiiiiii!" Her whole body felt like on fire.

"Oh God, Lu-chan. You were alright. We thought you wouldn't make it!"

The first thing she saw was Levy-chan's worried face.

"Levy-chan…How come-?"

"It seems Loke came out when he felt your life-force vanishing. And you should thank Cana for giving you a communication-card. Actually I believe it would be good to get everyone carry such card around when going on missions. It is much handier than a lacrima." Erza stepped next to the sniffing Levy.

"Erza! Where is Natsu? And Gray?"

"There is no need to worry, both of them are fine. Gray should be fleeing from Juvia's nursing right now. Natsu is resting at his home, Happy is watching over him."

"Yokata! So we are in the guild right now?" She looked at her surroundings only to find it quite unfamiliar.

"This is Porlyusica-san's home. Since you didn't wake up after two days, we brought you here, because Porlyusica -san's knowledge about toxics is broader than Wendys." Lucy realized that Erza looked worn out.

"Are you ok Erza? You look really pale…"

"Ah, Levy decided to look after you until you woke up so I supported her. She must be far more tired than me."

"You both should go home and rest. Don't worry I am completely fine now, so be at ease."

Lucy smiled at them and the girls exchanged somewhat unconvinced looks.

"Actually I think you two can go home by now, too. Just leave everything else to us." A voice rang out from the door.

Levy looked up, a bit more calm than she was before." Porlyusica -san!"

"Ah, Lucy-san! You woke up, ne? How are you feeling?" A bluenette girl carrying a basket filled with herbs and mushrooms stepped out behind the tall figure of the rose-haired healer.

The owner of the hoot had an irritated aura around her. "Now get out! I hate humans!" The older woman shoved Erza and Levy out.

"But Wendy and Lucy are both humans, too, aren't they?"

"Actually Wendy is close to being a dragon. And Lucy is my patient right now anyway. Goodbye." The door closed. The girls sighted, but finally made their way home much more relaxed than they spent the last three days.

* * *

"How are you?" Porlyusica's voice was much gentler when she turned back to Lucy.

"Fine- I think."

"There is no way you would be feeling fine. You got pierced by barbs through you stomach, right leg and right shoulder. Especially the poison which got into your blood system through your belly took their toll on you. Be grateful Wendy treated you with all her might right von the beginning. This is one of the most deadly and nasty toxic in Fiore. It causes the rotting of flesh and can even get bone structures to crumble. The only things it lets unharmed are the nerve cells, meaning hellish pains for the victim. Wendy put that basket down over there. I need you to go to town and buy new needles for me."

"Hai, Porlyusica -san. Then take care Lucy-san, I'll be back in no time, so wait a while till I come back to treat you again, ok?"

"Arigatou Wendy. You really are amazing."

The little dragonslayor smiled cutely and left.

"After Wendy healed you I will have to redo your stitches, so I am going to let you alone for now. I am sure Makarov is also eagerly waiting to hear about your condition." She turned to the door.

"All this is my fault." Lucy muttered darkly to herself.

Gerandine still heard it. "I couldn't care less, but instead of acting wimpy and weak you should fight against it. Are you going to be depressed every time something like this happens? Just make sure by yourself something like this never occurs again. That's all to it."

The door fell shut.

The golden-haired girl watched the door for a while and sighed. She lay down once again and her eyes traveled along the wooden grain of the ceiling. When she slowly closed her lids, she remembered what happened.

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"Hurry up! I'll be leaving you behind!"

"Hai, Erza!" The three of them shouted unison. Happy has gone somewhere "looking for the treasure" as he called it. He was surely already at a lake somewhere in this wild and by strangly twisted and formed plants and flowers overgrown forest.

"It's your fault you freaky stripper, you slowed us down!"

"What's your problem firebrain?! Who were running after a frog just because he LOOKED TASTY?!"

"Hey guys, you should try to walk faster instead of fighting…"

"Are you siding with him Luce?" Both of them turned to her.

"Didn't I say HURRY UP?!"

Lucy stepped aside to avoid the hail of blades rushing towards Gray and Natsu.

"Yare, yare. Ezra, I guess you will have to carry them now, you know…They can't possibly walk anymore."

The scarlet haired mage looked at the boys. Shrugging she grabbed their hair and dragged them along. The blonde mage sweatdropped. A blue shadow landed on her shoulder.

"Ne, Luuuucyyyy! I am hungry ~~! "

"Didn't you just go off fishing…?"

"I did, but the only thing a caught was a violet bubbly thing oozing some smelly yellowish stuff… You wanna see?"

"Urgh, no thanks Happy. Did you at least found some hints?"

"I tell you, if you get me something to eat."

Happy gulped nervously, when Lucy went into demon mode.

"_TELL MEEEEEE_…"

"A-Aye!"

Team Natsu has been slacking off for nearly two month, so they decided to take a more difficult mission, since everyone (except of Erza, but she never lacked money for some reason) was broken. Well, a lot of things had gotten in their way of course, for example the wedding of Evergreen and Elfman, the big cleaning of the Guild (they found quite a lot of old photo albums of the guild-members and spent more time flipping through them than cleaning) or the incident when Natsu set a library (yes, she was so insane to bring this idiot with her) on fire. They had to cover the repair costs, though Lucy managed to save the most books by using Aquarius. The only flaw was that the whole building was water soaked after that and this was the main reason why they needed money so badly.

The request was to retrieve an old treasure of the long vanished clan of Belzarath. The descendants of this folk put this quest on the boards, but it wasn't clearly said, what kind of treasure it was. The only description was the location – so these dreadful woods they were trapped in right now, the Dämonennest, and the reward. An unbelievably high sum of jewels and – what perked Lucy interest: The scroll of Citlalicue, which content was a list of all stellar spirits: their and their keys locations, current contracts, powers and signs. It was a magical parchment changing its runes constantly. Also it was said, lost facts and technics of controlling the spirits were written on it.

However, since they came here, they didn't find the slightest trace of former civilization. Not a single hint of the "treasure". They have been wandering around for hours now and Lucy's feet hurt. The sky began to darken, too.

"Ne, Erza, shouldn't rest a while and think the whole thing over again? We have to move more systematically."

The requip mage turned around and she flinched.

"Yes, you are right. Let's stop for a while" She settled down Natsu and Gray against a gigantic root, while Lucy was surprised she actually listened. Happy already went off somewhere again.

"For now, I'll get us something to eat. You think of some better strategy while I am hunting." And with this she disappeared in the darkgreen shadows of the forest.

"A better strategy, huh?" Lucy put their luggage in order. Erza brought a mountain of useful (mostly useless actually) things as ever. She stood up, brushed the dirt of her skirt and looked around. She better started to gather some wood and turn on her brain. As she reached out for a dry broken off branch, she thought about their possibilities. They couldn't hope to find anything by searching old paths or ruins, because they didn't see any of such to begin with. Happy's wings were useless here either, since he couldn't see anything when he was over the thick layer of treetops. This area was far too large to search it through completely. One option would be letting Natsu burning down the whole place – wait what was she even thinking? The dragonslayor seemed to be contagious. Better get that out of her head. Or she would have to try to pinpoint their target first. She could use the night sky. But before this, she should try to find out more about this clan and their holy treasure. They didn't even know what they were searching for. She arranged the wood she collected within a stone circle and took out an old leather book she found in the guilds library.

_Legends born in mirrorscape – Stories of the mysteries of our world_

She flipped to the table of content - which was in the middle of the book for some reason – and put on the magical glasses she got from Levy for her birthday.

.

.

_Chapter 154 Yamilunga era 3219_

_The ancient nations of Fiore 3222_

_ -Pyronemii folk 3224_

_ -Belzarath clan 3252_

_ -Irdenius cult 3296_

_ -Salazar circle 3327_

_Archaica Ilsyee, the scroll of truth 3348_

_ -Rules 3350_

_ -Rituals 3589_

_._

_._

She browsed to page 3252 and started to read.

* * *

Lucy jawdropped when she saw what Erza caught. She wasn't even sure if it was eatable. The successful hunter proudly heaved the furry green monster over the campfire the stellar mage lit earlier.

"I shall prepare dinner. Behold my cooking skills!" And with this the scarlet-haired beauty changed into a dress with apron. Lucy just laughed nervously and took a few steps back from the happily humming Erza. While her friend was busy slicing up the weird furball, the blond mage took a closer look at the trees around the clearing they were staying at. As she wandered around and trailed along the rough surface of the big trees with her fingers, she noticed a weird-looking symbol embarked on the trunk of the old oak Natsu and Gray were sleeping against. She softly touched it and jumped back in surprise when the bark around it began to crumble and break away.

"Hey Luce, what are you doing?" Gray came around the tree, a yawning Natsu followed.

To slow she remembered seeing that rune in the chapter of "Archaica Ilsyee the scroll of truth". It came from the ninth language and meant "horror of illusions". She called out for her comrades, but too late. The skin of the tree below now exposed was tinted in a dark red color, resembling blood. The earth in a radius of seven meters broke away revealing the large roots of the tree, dominating the most part of the ground. They formed a strange cave-like structure and were full with thick thorns. A deadly trap. Team Natsu fell under screams into the large hole.

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She opened her eyes. Clenching her teeth she turned her head towards the window.

She was always the one dragging her team down; she was always the one falling for traps and lies, acting all clumsy and useless. She was always the one endangering her nakamas. She sighted and sat up. Her eyes were dark with self-hatred and frustration when she left the bed. She needed to get her head clear.

* * *

A single strand of her hair escaped its companions and landed in front of Lucy's left eye. She didn't seem to have noticed it though. Her sight was directed somewhere far away, into a mysterious world only known to her. The celestial mage had climbed onto a high old silver-oak tree, the largest in the forest of Magnolia.

She would always come to this place to find her own peace and balance. The oak stood like a king on a cliff, granting her the beautiful view of the town, the forest, the ocean, the mountains and the wide endless horizon. She often also trained her powers with the help of Capricorn on the vast branches.

Lucy thought about her powers, her place and her possibilities a lot. The blonde knew that stellar magic was one of the oldest and deepest, as well as most unknown magics. Though she had been practicing a lot, her abilities were still far below the other members of her team. Her former teacher already taught her all he could, but she was sure there was still far more to it. Also – her magical powers were the only thing she could fight with, letting her pathetic wielding of fleur d'étoile aside. She really should train her physical abilities first. After that – she raised her head determined – she would obtain the scroll of Citlalicue. The girl had found a few interesting facts about the Belzarath. She would finish that mission on her own after training. She needed to learn to stand by herself. She needed to get stronger. Far stronger.

* * *

**Note**

Reviews pls! It's my first attempt to write a fanfiction, so critics are welcomed!


	2. Befriending your Murder

_2._

_Befriending your murder_

Lucy stood in front of her apartment kitbag on her shoulder and scratched her head. She felt, as if she forgot something. It was already late afternoon, since she spent the whole day packing.

"Ne, Michelle, is this really going to work? I am still insecure about this…" Lucy took out her childhood doll, her little sister, she swore never to let go again. Sighting she put her gently back into her bag and started to head into the direction of the guild.

She was wondering, what her team was going to say. Perhaps she shouldn't tell them to begin with. After all she would only be gone one or at most two weeks, right? But she'd at least have to inform master that she was leaving for the grand library of Doom's end. It was the biggest library in Kaleidoskopia, the continent Fiore as well as Shandumin, the land with the ruin-surrounded town, Zistrazal, where the library was located, belonged to. Lucy wanted to gather a few informations on combining physical and magical power, since magic was her strength and also other documents about stellar spirits. Luckily Zistrazal was near to the boarder of Fiore and Shandumin, that's why it shouldn't take too long. She would take the night train to go there.

She balanced on the riverbank as ever being still in thoughts.

"Be careful, Lucy-chan!" She turned around, smiled and waved the men in the canoe. She looked up into the sky and walk forwards more determined.

* * *

While wandering through the lively streets of magnolia, she remembered to fetch a new rogues belt from the towns Heartkreuz shop, as well as Erza's repaired sword belonging to her water empress armor. It was destroyed two missions ago, when Natsu tried to use it while his fist was on fire – resulting in his own funeral by Erza. Normally the ordered belt was supposed to be used by people using tons of small weapons, but it should work for keys too. For one, she lost her key poach much too often (meaning facing Aquarius rage), and she also added two new silver keys to her collection, so she needed more space for them.

_Ding, dong_

"Yes?" A young woman with caramel-colored hair came out of the backroom of the shop. She looked like a gentle person.

"Hello, I am here to fetch my ordered belt and a repaired sword"

"Ah, you must be speaking of these, right?" The girl started to search under the table and Lucy could hear her hitting her head and other noise. She sweatdropped.

"Aaah, itaiii… Here you go." Finally the shop assistant lifted up a bundle wrapped in a lightblue cloth. Lucy opened it. Stunning as ever, Erza's sword lay there, glimmering like the vast ocean on a windstill day. Completely fixed. Then she looked at her new belt. It seemed quite handy, made by dark leather, perhaps a bit too plain for her taste, but very durable. It had many silvery metal rings on it, as well as a few lops.

"You see, if you want to latch something on these rings, you just have to go through with that item. It won't be able to leave the ring, except you want so. Meaning it is also safe from stealing, though the belt only reacts according to the wearer. So if the whole belt gets stolen, they could easily remove your things." She showed it with a bottle opener.

"Arigatou!" The Fairytail mage was glad, she paid already three weeks ago, else she wouldn't be able to afford something this expensive right now. She replaced her poach with the belt and grabbed the sea empress sword. She couldn't raise it at all. What the hell was it made off!? Had it always been so heavy? Or more important, how could Natsu and Erza handle these things? Wait, wait, wasn't she just too weak? The shop keeper lifted it up with ease earlier didn't she? So she was that useless after all? The Heartkreuz-employee chuckled at the gloomy Lucy.

"Don't worry, normal persons aren't supposed to be able to carry them. Actually I am also working as smith for Heartkreuz, so my strength is not ordinary either. I'll just let someone bring it over later, ok? Fairytail was it?"

"Yes, thank you so much. Ja, yoroshiku." Lucy smiled and left the store, still quite shocked. Good, normal people shouldn't be able to carry something that heavy. But none in her team was normal. Did she even fit into that group of monsters? Fairytail mages had the image of being reckless and strong. So what was she? An imposter?

Suddenly Lucy realized, she wasn't sure anymore where she was right now. The last rays of the sunset already started to vanish. The blonde looked around. When she left the store she just went off without thinking about her route and it had been difficult to find it to begin with. And now she was lost somewhere in the dark alleys at the south side of magnolia. She sighed. The gold-haired girl couldn't see that much in the gloominess and hoped she wouldn't step on some weird stuff.

Suddenly her body went stiff and her eyes widened in horror. She felt a dark magic somewhere left in the back of her, full of killing intent. And it was definitely directed towards her. She knew it couldn't be Juvia, since her magic felt different and also didn't she really hate her as much as she claimed to. No, this person wanted her death for real. It reminded her of her first time meeting Gajeel. She whirled around to see three glistering blades flying towards her. She jumped aside, nearly tripped and held herself up by latching onto the wall. Daggers dug into the earth where she just stood. The source of the black aura started to move clockwise. Lucy's eyes darted around, trying to see anything in the shadows. She leaned her back on the wall cautiously, breathing in shivery. Her chaser was on her right side now. Suddenly it disappeared. No it didn't disappear; it just moved to quickly to follow.

"Yo, komusume."

She was right behind her. On the roof. Lucy slowly raised her head and saw a dark figure cloaked in a wide long jacket. As the wind brushed the hair out of the woman's face, cold golden eyes were revealed.

"I am here to kill you."

The blonde turned around shakily. She stumbled backwards. The shadow landed right in front of her soundlessly. A arm shot out and grabbed her throat. Lucy was slammed against the opposite wall. Her legs struggling in the air, she gasped of pain.

"W-wh…y..?"

"Miss Lucy Heartfilia, heiress of Jude Heartfilia, you are sure you don't know?"

"Wh…at?" The assassin loosened her grip a bit, bringing her face nearer to the frightened celestial sorceress.

"Your late grandmother left quite a big sum of jewels and estate to your father. Who do you think does it now belong to since he is already dead? Rich people are often targeted, you know." Her face didn't show any emotion.

Lucy's eyes widened a bit and then she started to laugh. The other girls eyes widened.

"That's why you are after me? Because of some lousy money? And I thought it was some personal grudge."

The assassin tilted her head to one side, still surprised.

"Wait, you don't care about your heritage?"

Lucy grinned. "Not a single bit. Just take it if you want it so badly. Need a sign or something?"

Her opponent took on step back, her hand leaving the stellar mage's neck. The celestial mage fell on the ground and coughed. She rubbed throat and winced as she moved her arm.

"Actually, it is not me after the money, but my client." The golden eyes showed curiosity.

"How were you able to notice me being there?"

Lucy stared at her. "Well, by sensing your magical vibes?"

The other looked strangely amazed. "You can notice magical power? So you must be very sensitive with sorcery, huh?"

"Really?" Lucy looked a bit dumbfounded. "Isn't this normal?"

The girl shook her head. "I for example can't sense magical presence at all. My magic bases more on knowledge and learning then real power. It must mean that you have a great potential and also a talent for handling it."

The pro-killer became quiet and looked at the Fairy Tail mage thoughtfully. Then she turned to the end of the alley, where the nightlife of Magnolia unfolded and started to walk away.

"Follow me, gaki."

"Huh? Why should I?"

"Because I'll kill you right here if you don't."

Lucy gulped nervously and hurried to catch up to her. She reminded her of Erza, but not exactly in a positive way. This street was one of the biggest in Magnolia. The people were laughing, holding hands and chatting happily. Lanterns let everything overflow with a warm golden tone. The blonde watched the scenery a bit numb. It felt too unrealistic. She stepped next to her (will-be?) murder.

"Didn't you want to kill me? Or at least get the prove of me refusing my heritage?"

"Nah, just don't feel like it anymore. Besides - " She turned around to Lucy with a broad grin. "- I feel like we can get along quite well. You can teach me quite some stuff you know?"

The stellar mage could finally see her clearly. And her look was quite awesome, to put it simple. The assassin had dark violet hair, cut short and tousled, except of two long thin plaits hanging out of her other strands. Two streaks of hair on her right site were pulled through silver single beads, the same metal her circled earrings were made of. She had quite pale, almost white skin. Silver bands drew through her braids and ended in similar rings like the ones on hear ears. Under her black mantle she wore harem style pants in dark purple while here feet were settled in getsus like the men wore. The only things covering her breast were white bandages and the single visible weapon was a scimitar-like short sword hanging horizontally on her back. Its sheath was also dark purple.

"Wait, wait- You expect me to tag along you just like this? I need to head to the guild and I have tons of things I have to finish and -"

"Listen gaki. For the first be more grateful. Normally you would be dead right now, if I didn't decide to spare you. Second: You believe my client – Genzaboro Takakuni by the way as you might have thought already -"

Lucy nodded. Genzaboro had always been her father biggest concurrence – and the reason why her family had gone broke.

"-will sit still, if he heard you were still alive? The sum your father still owes him is far smaller than what you have right now. He will only get the whole heritage, if you are dead. Third: I need to keep my image as top assassin, so there is no way I would let you wander around right now, when you are supposed to be under the earth."

"So what exactly are you planning to do with me now?" Lucy was surprised, how calm she was herself.

"It's obvious isn't it? I'll just take you with me. As I said already - you have a much keener sense for magic than me, so you could help me with this. In exchange, I'll spare your life and teach you other interesting things. Fighting is not all about sorcery, you know?"

Lucy let it pass through her head. Isn't this what she had been looking for? The rogue was far above her in physical terms, moreover she had more experience. It wasn't like she had any choice right? She would think about how to get back to Fairy Tail later.

"Alright. Actually there are a lot of things I would like you to teach me, too. I'll travel with you for now."

The other one smiled happily. "Yay, then it's a deal! Okay, we'll be heading to the kingdom of Ankara first. I live there most time. Let's start training there! We need to get you away from eyes which will recognize you, anyway."

Lucy chuckled at her unexpected childishness. Her new comrade was actually quite cute, despise her outer appearance. Latter suddenly grabbed Lucy's wrist and hopped on a roof only to jump onto an even higher building. The wind ran through their hairs violently, when they leaped onto the highest tower – the clock tower- in town. While Lucy nearly choked on her spit due to the assassin's abrupt action, the violet-haired girl raised her hand high into the starry sky.

"Descend from the misty clouds, Kassiopeia!" Her finger drew a violet-glimmering circle in the air, which turned out to be a simple magic seal. After a while a dark shadow came down from the night sky and a giant hawk emerged from the night. Its feather color was lighter than normal ones and resembled the rising sun. The intelligent mesmerizing orange eyes looked at Lucy with curiosity. The bird had a majestic and astonishing aura.

_Who is this girl? Isn't she the one you were supposed to finish off? What were you thinking, partner?_

It was a soft, but not girlie voice. Definitely a female. Lucy mouth fell agape.

"Did it just SPOKE?!"

"Ara, ara, don't be rude Lucy. This is my soulcompanion. Kassiopeia is a phoenixhawk. One of the greatest and oldest magical creatures in the world. Did you thought dragons were the only beasts of genesis?" She laughed at the blonde's amazed face. "She is at least as intelligent as you, most likely even much more. Our bond isn't the same as dragonslayer and dragons, but it's similar. Dragons are still exceptions after all, even amongst the ancient beasts."

"Ha-hajimemashite Kassiopeia-san."

She could hear Kassiopeia laughing at her mentally. The wind created by her wings tugged on their clothes, and whirled their hair around.

_Don't be so shocked. You're Lucy Heartfillia, right? Nice to meet you. Hmm, tell me the details on the trip, partner. We should hurry. _

The phoenixhawk seemed to be referring to her soulcompanion by saying partner.

"Now come on you lazy bum. Get up here!" Said one already climbed on the Hawk and reached out her hand to pull Lucy on.

"Uff." The stellar mage let herself drop on Kassiopeia's back. For just one evening, quite a lot of things have happened. She felt a little bit dizzy.

"Iko ka, Kassiopeia." The phoenixhawk shook her feathering and spread her wings. With a strong swing she soared into the dark blue sky.

* * *

Lucy sat between the wings of Kassiopeia; the rogue in front of her, facing her with crossed legs. The celestial mage was still surprised, how easily she could keep herself from falling off. Actually sitting there like this wasn't such a big deal. The only problem was the freezing wind. The other girl finally noticed it.

"You are shivering Lucy? Ah, I forgot, that you are not used to this." She nimbly climbed down the giant bird and hooked her left feet into one of the many loops on the leather strings that were tied around Kassiopeia. With that she grabbed for the bag fastened on the hawk's right leg and pulled out a dark blue cloak, which she gave Lucy.

"Arigatou." The blonde took it gratefully.

"If I were in you these clothes,-" She pointed at Lucy. "I would also be freezing"

"Sais the one with only bandages wrapped on her upper part of body?" She cloaked herself into it the thick material, leaving her head bare.

"Hey, this mantle is much warmer than it looks like! And I am trained against cold."

Both of them remained silent for a while.

Lucy set her head on her both hands. "Hey, let's start over again. Let's officially befriend each other. I am Lucy Heartfillia, 17 years old, mage of Fairytail. Hobby is reading and writing."

Her friend smirked. "Wrong. Your name is Lucy Illumini. Lucy Heartfillia has been murdered remember? Lucy Illumini, my lil' sis from now on as cover. I didn't tell you my name before, did I? I am Cassia. Cassia Illumini. Assassin of rank SS, 20 years. Hobby is…killing people? Anyway, nakayoku ni naru, ne?(Let's get along, kay?) "

Lucy grinned, feeling all excited and hype. "Aah!"

* * *

**Note:**

By the way- this:

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means Flashback...

Searching for Beta, since I don't know, if anyone wants to proofread this story^^

Going to update once a week at least:D Reviews pls~


	3. Lucy is dead

_3._

_Lucy is dead_

"Ne, Levy, did you see Lucy anywhere?" The blue-haired script mage raised her head. And the story she was reading was so tense just now.

"Ah, Natsu ka. No, I didn't. Why?"

Gray came up beside Natsu. "Cause she didn't show up in the Guild lately. And when we paid her a visit, she- "

"You mean broke into her house." Levy laughed. The boys scratched their heads.

"Well anyway, she wasn't in her house and it didn't seem like she had been there for a while. Michelle, her diary and novel drafts were also missing."

Levy scowled. "Now that you mention it, I haven't seen her for at least a week now. Did she mention any mission or trips?"

While they were talking, a scarlet haired requip mage entered the guild hall.

"Hey, Erza! Do you know, if Lucy took any missions lately?"

"I wouldn't know so. You better ask Mirajane. What's the matter?"

"She seems to have disappeared. We were wondering where she went, since she didn't came to guild for some time already." Levy closed her half-read book, an unusual action for her.

Natsu already headed towards the bar. As he sat down Mirajane put a plate of chili con carne in front of the dragonslayer.

"You look depressed Natsu. That's not like you. What happened?"

"Ne, Mira, did Lucy took any missions this last week?"

The takeover mage frowned. "I don't think so. Why?"

"We couldn't find her anywhere in Magnolia. And we wanted to go on this huge mission next week you know."

"Ah, I am sure she'll be back in no time. Perhaps she went to another town for family reasons or similar?"

"Ok, then I'll wait for her to return." Natsu stood up and turned to the exit. "Let's go Happy."

"Aye!" The blue cat swished down and landed on Natsu's shoulder. Both left the building.

"He didn't touch his food, huh…"

"What do you think about this Mira?" The bartender flinched, when she noticed her guild master next to her on the bar, gulping down his alcohol as ever.

"I don't know…This is unusual for Lucy. She isn't the type disappearing without saying a word. I can't believe her to take a one week mission on her own without telling anyone. She wouldn't be so stupid to overestimate her own powers."

"Yeah, that's also my opinion. Actually I heard a few rumors from the underground. It seems that Cassia Illumini had been in town last week, meeting up with Jarek Tailor. He's the stand in for Genzaboro Takakuni in Magnolia. This bastard was ranting over people indebted to him two weeks ago during guild master's meeting. He threatened master Bob to get Ichiya to pay back the money he spent on clothes. Don't know how he even got the permission to participate anyway. I guess money opens every path, huh." The old man took another gulp. Mira's eyes widened understanding.

"Genzaboro – isn't he that extremely rich owner of the biggest Kaleidoskopia-Nawanaikuni trading company? And he had never been in good terms with the Heartfillia family. Jude Heartfilia _did_ owe him quite a sum. Are you saying, that Cassia Illumini – _that_ Cassia Illumini – was sent after Lucy?!"

"Hush, Mira. It's not confirmed information anyway. But if it was true then there is no way Lucy could have escaped her. She is responsible for the death of the head of the aspiring dark guild Hei lungzuah and also the Dustdragonslayor of Goddess Tears, the sister guild of Blue Pegasus. But I don't want to believe it yet."

Mirajane gulped. The dark guild Hei lungzuah had a good chance to join the Baram Alliance back then, especially since their master ranged as high as the ten magic saints. However the magic council sent an killer after him immediately when they acted public and erased his guild instantly. So it had been Cassia Illumini. She didn't know much about the old Goddess Tears, only, that this guild split into Blue Pegasus, Phoenix Legend and new Goddess Tears after a fight between the three daughters of the master at that time. And that this offspring guild of the "original" Goddess Tears had a dragonslayor called Ilsya Desertmist.

"Listen Mira, don't tell this anyone. It could also be false information and I don't want the others to worry. I will look for Lucy myself for now." The master fixated Mirajane with a serious look.

"I understand master." Mira bit her lip. Things were worser than she thought.

* * *

"Uaaaah!" Lucy stretched her arms into the air. Stiffly she jumped down the Kassiopeia, only to sit down groaning.

"My butt huuurts…" They had been flying one and a half day strait through. First they stayed in a small village for two days after a one day flight. Cassia said she had business to attend to and left her by herself. It was daybreak and they were somewhere in the north of Ankara in its unfriendly wilderness. The nearest town was thirteen miles away.

"Get yourself together Lucy. Are you really going to be ok with training and such? Wailing over a stiff butt?" Cassia slid down elegantly, while raising an eyebrow at Lucy.

_It's your job to make her less wimpy, Cassia. Give your bee-eest._

Oh, nice. Sarcasm. The phoenixhawk smirked and began to tidy her feathers. That was harsh. Lucy didn't feel like she was going to be able to achieve anything at this rate. She really wanted to let her head hang down.

_I couldn't care less, but instead of acting wimpy and weak you should do fight against it. Are you going to be depressed every time something like this happens? Just make sure by yourself something like this never occurs again. That's all to it._

Porlyusica-san was right. Just by getting called wimpy, she got all gloomy again. Not good. She stood up.

"Just wait! I am going to be as strong as Cassia. I'll prove it to you!"

The rogue grinned. "That's the right spirit! Let's hurry and start with training after we stored our stuff." She leaped onto a huge stone bolder, which lay at the foot of the mountain chain they stood before. Kassiopeia unfolded her wings and rose into the air.

"Come on, we gotta get up there. By foot, that is."

Lucy's eyes bulged out. "On the top THIS mountain? Are you kidding me? I am going to fall, I swear!"

"Don't be such a sissy Lucy. This is a good training for your stamina and strength. And the view from up there is stunning."

Well, since it was training, she wasn't going to complain. She raised her hands in defeat and started to heave herself on the next rock projection. She barely did it. Cassia already stood three meters above her. Her soul companion wasn't visible anymore.

"Hurry up Lucy! Do you plan to arrive at midnight?" With this the golden eyed combatant also disappeared out of her sight. The blonde sighed. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

"Ahh, I am beat." Lucy let herself fall on her back full length after she finally reached the peak of the mountain, which was actually a plateau. Cassia was busy shoving their luggage between a few rocks.

"Get on your feet, Lulu."

"Lulu?! What with this nickname?" The celestial mage sat up. The violette came over and ignored her.

"Now stand up and look." She pulled Lucy onto her feet. The celestial mage became silent. The view was unbelievable beautiful. The plateau was surrounded by large rocks, which were part of the mountain and was covered by real grass and strange scarlet flowers, which reminded her of Erza. Beautiful and tough. A little meadow in middle air, surrounded by nothing but sky, wind, clouds and fog. As a gust of wind whirled through their hairs, she could vaguely make out the schemes of the other mountains hid in the mist, most of them a bit higher than the one they stood on. It didn't feel realistic. She felt like in a god's den.

"Welcome to the wound of Srathrunryatar." Cassia waved her hand towards the mountains.

Lucy looked at her friend questioningly. Latter lay down on her back, her dark hair mingling with the grass.

"Shall I tell you the legend of these mountains?" The younger mage nodded. She sat down with crossed legs, waiting patiently.

"Long before humans claimed Earthland, long before the era in which the beast of genesis became the ruler of this world, long before the creation of river, mountains and gorges; there was the ocean and the continents. There were the islands and the lakes. They were the children of the god of the sky, the goddess of the sea, the god of the earth and the goddess of all life force and destruction. They had children gifted with their godly powers and thus their descendants began to spread in this world, reigning over their separated territories. But once there was a goddess, Nestarya, she was the bringer of spring and warmth, her parents none less than the god of sky and the goddess life force and destruction. And there were two brothers, Sathrun and Ryatar, the twin children of the goddess of ocean and the god of earth.

Sathrun and Ryatar were certainly twins, but their power differed a lot. As Ryatar controlled the snow and ice, Sathrun wielded the rocks and magma. And the time came when both fell in love with Nestarya, when one year they watched her soft steps leaving blooming flowers and vitality of life. They watched her retreating figure disappearing in an old forest, her hair floating behind her, whirling like thunder clouds of a rainy march. Unavoidably just like every tragedy they started to fight over her and in their furious battle they created cracks in the earth, called forth volcanoes, covered them with glaciers and left areas wrapped in eternal frost and snow. In the final stage of their violent argument, a chain of mountain was created by Sathrun to protect himself. Ryatar however, descended on an icy cloud and eventually stood before him. Sathrun raised a mountain as a shield, trying to impale his brother at the same time. Ryatar was injured, but he was able to form a blade of ice and cut through the shield, also inflicting a deadly wound on his twin. Neither of them won this battle. Both of them died at the feet of the last mountain Sathrun created and frozen by Ryatar.

When Nestarya heard of their doings, she hurried to stop them, but when she arrived both were already dead. In her mourning she stood before their last battle field and marked their grave by a piece of life and peace, a bit of herself. Their grave flowers were the red Laziste, a plant only to be found on that spot. Thus in cold harsh north on the scattered peak of the once hugest mountain, one would be able to find a small meadow, where spring resides forever. The wound of Sathrunryatar."

Cassia finished her story with a whisper. Lucy lay down beside her. She smiled at hearing about ice-made blades. She should tell Gray that story, too.

"That was beautiful. And very sad." Silence enveloped the meadow. The fog also stood still, as if trying to wrap around the girls and letting them rest.

"Ne, Cassia."

"Hmm?"

Lucy hesitated a bit before continuing. "Why are you an assassin?"

Her friend didn't say anything for a while and the blonde was afraid, she might talked about an unwanted topic. But then the rogue spoke.

"Because that's the only thing I've ever learned. It's the only way for me to survive."

Lucy waited patiently. Her nakama would talk, if she wanted.

"My family, no my clan to be precise, had worked as assassins since long ago. That's how the people know and fear the Illumini clan. I am the last. The good guys-" She laughed bitterly. "did their best to erase my people since we were more or less like dark guild in their eyes." She turned on her site, leaving the younger one to look at her fragile looking back.

"That of course didn't stop the said good guys to still hire us. Take the magic council of Fiore for example or the royal family of Ankara and the government of Shandumin. My father was the last of our line and taught me assassin arts since I was a little child. All my knowledge is only good for killing. He took me on missions. He was my whole world and I admired him and his skills. Murdering people doesn't really affect me; I am used to it already. I couldn't care less about strangers. Well, that one time they decided to get him doing an impossible mission. That killed him."

She rolled back on her back and turned her face to the calm stellar mage. "People don't trust likes of mine, you know. They wouldn't let you join legal guilds of any kind and try to get you to move away, if you decided to stay in their neighborhood. They would cover in fear before you and cursing you in their dreams. They would avoid you as if you were an epidemic itself. However when they need someone to do their dirty job, you would be the first choice."

She smiled weakly. "You don't trust me, too, do you? 'Cause I just tried to kill you and then abducted you into some foreign mountains. No one would trust a person, who did this to him."

Lucy looked at her thoughtfully. "Well…You didn't kill me, even if you were supposed to. I agreed to go to Ankara, so I don't see where the problem lies. You didn't hurt me seriously until now, so I don't have any reasons to distrust you yet. I am not saying that I could trust you. I know you for barely two days. But let's say, you're still a blank sheet of paper in front of me and your first brushstrokes weren't bad at all. What kind of picture is going to be formed in front of my eyes is up to you. Though I can't accept the fact that you will run off killing people other than me."

Cassia looked at her with big eyes. "Tell me, are you always so stupid? Ah, I suppose naïve would be the better word."

Lucy blushed. "Hey! I was just saying something really cool! How dare you to make fun of me!" And she began to attack the violette with tickle assaults. The Fairy Tail mage wasn't sure herself why she was acting this familiar with this girl, but after Cassia opened up herself a bit – for some reason the blonde was sure she wasn't lying - she started to feel really comfortable with the older mage.

After their quite fierce tickling battle, which ended in Cassias glorious victory, they calmed down again. The sun was just about to set.

"It might sound quite weird coming from me, but it feels like I just got myself a little sister." The golden-eyes were soft as she looked at Lucy.

Lucy smiled. "So, we'll be training up here tomorrow Cassia-nee?" Her "big sis" blushed at hearing the suffix.

"Y-yeah. The oxygen is…thinner up here, it'll be a good practice for your lungs." Lucy chuckled at her reaction. She crossed her arms behind her head. The mist cleared a bit, perhaps due to the air getting colder and they could see the star sprinkled sky. It reminded of a dark vast ocean.

"Look there Nee-san. That's the sign of Cassiopeia. Did she have her name from this constellation?"

"Aah. But she chose her name herself."

Lucy nodded understanding. "Did you know, that some of the zodiac sign here are part of different zodiac signs in the countries where the sun rises in the west? No matter what folk or race humans belong to, they would all look up into the same sky and put their religion, emotions, stories and dreams into it. That's what's so amazing about the stars. They get their power from believes and hopes originating in people's hearts."

"You like stars a lot, huh? And you know a lot about them. The only stellar mage I've ever met only cared about polishing her keys…"

"I've always loved stars. My mom was a stellar mage; she taught me everything about them. They are my nakama and family, just as much as my guild. They are always supporting me."

"Then tell me more about them." Cassia sounded a bit sleepy. "Tell me more about your mother and the stars. Tell me more about your guild and nakamas."

"Then, let's start at that part, when I ran away from home. No wait, perhaps I should start with why I ran away…" And so they spent the nearly the whole night chatting.

* * *

Erza scarlet wasn't the type to show a sad or worried expression on her face. Anger and kindness, yes. Embarrassment and happiness also. But she always believed strongly, unwavering in any situation. Trusted her nakamas and herself to break through any kind of situation. But now she was worried. Really, really worried. She just stood with Mirajane on the second floor and the gentle takeover mage just told her about Lucy's possible situation. Mirajane knew she wasn't supposed to, but at least one person in team Natsu she had to tell. And Erza asked her death seriously to tell her; also she could keep her mouth shut.

_I beg you Mira. I have a really bad feeling about Lucy's disappearance. Please tell me what you know. Onegai desu._

Erza looked down on the usual noisy Fairy Tail, though it was perhaps a little less bright, without the laughter of Lucy watching the other members acting like idiots.

"So I assume she is most likely with eighty percent possibility -"She couldn't bring herself to speak out the word loud. If she did so, she would understand the whole meaning of it. And she was sure she couldn't take it yet.

"Hai. But master hasn't given up yet, so we shouldn't, too. Don't lose your faith Erza."

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right. There's no way Lucy would be gone right? Lucy isn't confirmed dead yet." Her eyes widened as she spoke out the word she had been avoiding. Lucy and dead. Coldness flooded into her.

The two female didn't realize that someone else also heard the last part of their conversation. As a hand landed down on Mira's shoulder, she turned around.

Natsu who had been sneaking onto the second floor in his ninja mood, pulled his scarf from his head. His eyes were dark and full of horror.

"What do you mean, Lucy is dead?"

The other guild members became silent. They looked up to the three on the upper floor.

"DID YOU JUST SAY LUCY IS DEAD?!" Natsu voice echoed through the guild.

* * *

**Note**

Is the legend of the mountain strange? I get the feeling I wrote a lot of weird stuff in there:D

But anyway, hope it's ok and reviews pls^^


	4. Please dodge

_4._

_Please dodge_

"Kyaaaaaa!" Lucy just barely escaped the magical projectile, by jumping to the left. Cassia raised her hand like a gun again.

"Dodge Lulu!" She grinned wickedly like some sort of slave driver from hell, while sending thin needles of magical energy towards her.

"Wait, wait, wait-! Damn you Cassia, I'll make you regret it! Just wait when it's my turn! Uaaaaaah!"

"Hai, hai." The older girl's voice was relaxed; another hail of violet manifested magic was directed towards Lucy. She managed to avoid them better this time and they rushed over her head over the plateau.

"Hmmm, seems as if this got too easy…Then let's end the agility training here. – We'll train your stamina now." Lucy flinched at her demonic aura.

"What exactly are you pla- aaaaaaaah! " At a swirl of her coach's finger, the needles came back out of the blue and started to follow the blonde mage.

"Stop them Cassia! Oi! Are you trying to kill me?!" The violette smirked.

"If you have the time to complain, it must mean that I am still going too easy on you, huh? Sorry 'bout that." She raised her both hands in front of her face and spread her fingers. The projectiles speeded up.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAA!"

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"Ok, done."

Lucy stared at her blank hand. Her Fairy Tail sign was gone. No, it wasn't gone, it just became invisible.

"I also jammed any magical traces on you tattoo. We would get in trouble, if anyone sensed or saw it, right?"

"Mmm." The blonde wasn't really listening. Her thoughts circled around her guild and nakamas. What did they thought, when she suddenly disappeared? Were they worried much? Perhaps they believed her dead now, if the rumors about Cassia came to the ears of Fairy Tail. She felt guilty. She should have told master at least. But Cassia wouldn't have let her anyway. She missed them already, though it was barely one week since she didn't see her cheerful and gentle companions. But it was a price she was willing to pay, to return more independent and helpful.

"So how are we going to schedule our training?" Lucy cupped her cheeks with both hands, while setting her arms on her knees.

"I would suggest to split the time from sunrise till four o' clock in halves for each of us to work on our powers. The rest of the time we'll be descending to the ground for hunting, filling up supplies and tending to any other human needs."

"Sounds good. Are we going to stay here on long term?"

"Nah, not long. A few weeks at most. City-life is much more entertaining! I'll teach you hand in hand combat and stealth movements. You can try out these in Tamin, the next place we'll be heading to. It's a big city to the southwest. First it was just a trading point, but now it grew into the second largest town in the kingdom of Ankara. It's famous for its large bazars and the fabrics they produce and import. They are mostly for making Lanterns, which sell well everywhere and are shown in the grand firefly festival in summer, so Tamin is also called the town of floating lights."

"Are you always travelling? You know a lot."

"Yeah, thanks to Kassiopeia it is quite easy for me to do so. I just can't sit still. I love the untamed nature as much as city life. And I just can't settle down somewhere. I just cannot come to ease, if you understand what I mean."

Lucy nodded. She had been like this a while after running from home before joining Fairy Tail. Always running around, in motion, without feeling really comfortable somewhere.

"By the way, where is Kassiopeia now? And – what exactly are you doing?" Cassia just performed a strange stance in front of her while talking. Her limbs seemed to be entangled with each other in a strange way, while her belly faced the ground in a bow.

"Probably hunting or just enjoying her free time without me. She doesn't like to act like a pitiful pet. Well, I would say you two are my only friends. And this move is a form from the Shirokumo, the white cloud. The movements train agility and flexibility and are connected to the old martial arts from the southern continents. This one combines the stretching of nearly all tendons in the body. Wanna try?"

Lucy quickly shook her head. "No thanks, it looks…painful." She smiled nervously. "Ah and I forgot to ask: What kind of magic are you using, nee-san?"

The assassin turned her head to the blonde, meaning rotating it about 160° to the right. The younger one gulped.

"I use poison magic. Fitting for a pro killer, huh?" Lucy winced as she remembered the last time she was involved with toxic substrates. To overplay her reaction she tried to figure out something else that reminded her of poison.

"Do you know Cobra of the Oracion Seis? He also uses poison magic. Though he's a dragonslayor."

"Ah, I have heard of him. You encountered him once, right?" The older mages snapped back into standing position. "I did research you thoroughly, before coming after you."

"Am I supposed to be scared or flattered?" Lucy asked mockingly.

Cassia grinned. "That's up to you. I got a broad knowledge about poison and potions, because my magic bases on it. Well, I don't really produce poisons myself, I have to consume them. By doing so, I can combine them into deadly toxics that develops into pure magical energy. Same goes for the healing abilities of mine. You could say I am more an expert for all kind of substances and their influence on living beings, than a real mage." She shrugged.

Lucy looked at her a bit amazed. "So you can kill and heal a person at the same time? That's a cool magic." Her friend shook her head.

"My magic isn't that cool. It's just handy, but not really powerful or destructive at all. "

"That's not true. It's unique and really fascinating. I wish I had something like this." She sighed.

"Why? Aren't stellar mages really rare? And didn't you say you loved your spirits? You already got ten zodiac keys don't you?" The rogue looked a bit confused.

"Yes, I know. I really love my stellar companions, but by using celestial magic I don't get the feeling I am doing anything, just letting others to fight for me. Also – I would always get bullied by Aquarius in front of my enemies or have to deal with Taurus's perverseness. I mean Sagittarius doesn't even look like a centaur. I feel like I am sending comic figures towards super powerful foes."

"Hmmm, is that so. If you like my magic that much, I could teach you some of its basics. Especially the healing spells. And about your spirits…Well, let's think about that later. For now – physical workouts, my dear imoto. Think about how you are going to help me with my magic while doing so. Ah and did I mention I only ate toxic Azius flowers for the last few days? I thought I would have to deal with your whole guild." She raised her hands. Lucy sweatdropped. Jabai zo.

"Let's get started!" And hell broke loose.

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Lucy lay face down in the grass.

"Aaah, I am so dead. Cassia, you're the worst." Latter just grinned at her and push herself from the ground with her hands. She landed soundless with both feet.

"Your turn Lucy. Didn't you want to get revenge on me?" Her hands were on her hips as she bowed her upper body over the groaning stellar mage.

"Tatte baka. Come on." She offered her a hand.

"Hai, hai." Lucy's mumbling voice came out muffled. Slowly she sat up and let Cassia pull her on her feet.

"Actually, my revenge will have to wait. I want to try to increase your magical energy first." The older looked at her with curiosity.

"How are you going to do that?" The blonde walked towards the middle of the plateau.

"By meditating." She sat down with crossed legs and patted the ground beside her.

"Sit down here." The rogue followed suit.

"And now?" She watched as Lucy's body relaxed.

"Observe me for now." The golden eyed just nodded. The celestial sorceress's face became emotionless, her limbs calm, but not slack. There was a silent and low brimming sensation coming from her. The violette eyes went wide. This was the first time she ever felt magical power so clearly. She normally couldn't differ mages from normal people; in battle the heat of the fight distracted her too much. But now she could sense it. Silent vibes of magic. She flinched as it got intense and a circle of magical energy suddenly surrounded the younger mage's body. The fog was sucked into it and whirled along with it. The range grew wider and then stopped abruptly. Lucy's eyes snapped open. Cassia thought, she might have seen a flash of silver light in her eyes. The blonde was slightly panting.

"You saw that? That's what you're trying next." The momentarily sensei caught her breath.

"That will increase the capability of magical power. You are drawing it out consciously and that will improve your sensibility and handling of it. I am sure you know the concept of exhausting your body completely, letting it heal and repeat the action?" Cassia nodded. "So that's what we're doing with your magical power. Actually its level right now ranges about that of Cana, I would guess. Not monster like strong, but quite a lot. You just can't make use of it effectively."

Cassia looked a bit astonished. "Wow, who would have thought even you would be some help? Ita-ta-tai" The other girl smacked her head. "Get started, already!" A vein on her forehead twitched and she had her eyes closed to contain her anger.

The assassin took the same position like Lucy before and closed her eyes. "It was Capricorn who taught me this. Mom did the same training he told me."

Her companion opened a lid. "One of your spirits?"

"Yes and now GET BACK TO MEDITATING!" As she watched her friend trying to calm her nerves, but failing due to a pointed stone in the grass, where she wanted to rest her hand on, the blonde smiled. Somehow, she really resembled Natsu.

"Luuucyyyy…."

"Nani?"

"I just can't draw out my power! How do I do it?" Cassia nearly whined.

Lucy chuckled. "Maa, I'll try to help you. Imagine your soul as a deep hole. Full of unknown possibilities and secrets. Empty right at this moment. Dark. Now start to fill this hole with water. The water level is rising. Do you feel it? Now let it move like you want it to. Let it swirl. Stir it so hard, that all the liquid overcome the walls of the hole. Splash it on your surroundings in big waves. Just imagine it in your head."

"Aah! Lulu, look! I did it." Her friend shouted happily as some sort of slight wind formed around her.

"You should better concentrate…" And the aura vanished.

"Well, let's just try again."

* * *

"DID YOU JUST SAY LUCY IS DEAD?!" Everyone froze.

"W-what?" Levy stared at Natsu with a blank expression. "What do you mean, Lucy is dead, Natsu?"

Suddenly Gray was beside Natsu, slamming him against the wall. "What kind of joke is this Natsu! That's not funny at all!"

"Let him go Gray." Lisanna faint voice broke through the silence. The petite script mage started to tear up.

"Where does this statement come from, Salamander?" Gajeel stood beside Levy.

"Wait, wait everyone, Lucy is not dead!" Erza quickly tried to interfere.

"Then why did this bastard said so?" The ice alchemist voice was a hiss. He didn't leave his cold and hard eyes of the dragon slayor. Mirajane finally caught herself and came to help the scarlet haired mage.

"It is possible, but the only source is unconfirmed information."

"Then don't go spouting nonsense, fire brain!" The iron dragon slayer roared at him. The fire mage gripped Gray's wrist. "What are you all relived for? Didn't you get the last part?"

Wendy eyes were also still full of fright. "What do you mean she's possibly dead? What happened to Lucy-san?"

"What's with this fuss?" A large figure came out of one of the doors on the second floor.

"Laxus! We just heard Lucy might be dead! Without us there to protect her! And we just passed the last week completely ignorant!"

Laxus scowled. "The blond weak looking chick? Well,-"

"Lucy isn't weak!" Mirajane furiously interrupted. The thunder dragonslayor flinched. He didn't know they would take him this serious. "You're not bit concerned, what Laxus?!"

"Now won't you calm down, guys!" "After I killed this fire bastard!" "Wai-wait! Don't cry Levy! What happened?!" "What happened you ask? Levy is crying and yo- "So how is Lucy now? Juvia didn't get it! Explain it Erza!"

The guild members started to shout incoherent questions and reproaches towards each other. Few tried to calm them and insults rained down, underlined by the sobbing of Levy and Wendy.

"What is going on?" Everyone stopped to yell. Master Makarov stood in the door. His eyes trailed from the sniffing Levy and Wendy over the Gray and Natsu who were glaring at each other with deathly eyes to Juvia and Erza trying to keep Mirajane from killing Laxus. He sighed deeply.

"So it's about Lucy."

"I am sorry master…" The silver haired mage's voice was nearly too soft to be heard. Her master shook his head.

"Don't burden yourself with it, Mirajane. It just had to come out at some point. And also – they have the right to know it." He settled himself on the bar.

"Good. Then I'll tell you about what I know about my missing child." Everyone listened. "And I am afraid, I do not have good news."

* * *

"I thought you wanted to up my magical power first?!" This time it was Cassia fleeing from Lucy's – or to be precise – Sagittarius's arrows. The only difference, was, that her eyes were covered by a piece of cloth, hindering her vision. The blonde leaned back and crossed her legs nonchalantly.

"Yeah, I said so. So while recovering you magic supply, you might as well as polish on your ability to sense magic. Sagittarius arrows are made of pure magical energy. Dodge nee-san!"

"Why you- oi!" Lucy only grinned. Revenge was so sweet.

* * *

**Note:**

** reader713**

I know I already answered your questions, but if anyone else wondered:

I guess so:D But Lucy is still insure about it, because she would be targeted again, if anyone found out she was alive and all the other reasons. Cassia is also still watching her so Loki would have to go there on his own whim^^ She will tell them soon, I just wanted a bit panic in Fairy Tail:D


	5. Frogs and Mushtooms

5. Frogs and Mushrooms

The guild was filled with icy silence, unbreakable as the frozen ground in the high norths.

"That's how it is."

Mirajane eyes were wet as she hugged her sister, sobbing silently. Elfman embraced his siblings protectively.

_Thud_

Levy fell on her knees.

"Lu-chan. That's a lie. It's a lie, right? Ne, Master... This can't be true! It's just can't be, tell me it isn't…" She seemed near fainting. Jet and Droid were too shocked themselves to comfort her.

Wendy covered her mouth with her thin hands, her eyes wide and lost. Lucy who was like her big sister she never had was dead. Not coming back anymore.

"Damn it!" Everyone flinched as a barrel of sake was smashed into pieces. The content dripped on the floor. _Drip, drip, drip_. Cana hold her bleeding hand. "Damn it all!" Her voice screamed through the building. "_Damn it…"_

Juvia began to cry, tears running down her cheeks and the face of Gajeel became even grimmer if possible. Laxus who pretended disinterested turned his head away, his face overshaded.

Suddenly the whole guild was sobbing and cursing. Master let his head hang down frowning very hard. He placed his forehead on his folded hands, gripping them tightly as he listened to his children's mourning.

"I am not believing this." The hard voice let everyone turn to Natsu. His face was full of anger and dead serious.

"I am not accepting this. I won't think of Lucy as dead as long as I didn't see her corpse."

"Natsu…" Happy rubbed his wet eyes.

"Aah, I agree. We'll find her. No matter what happens. She's alive and we will find her." Gray placed a hand on Natsu's shoulder.

"Well, said Natsu, Gray. Master we're not going to give up. Please let us search for her." Erza stepped in front of the old man. He still had his head down, his eyes in the shadow. Then –finally, after an eternity as it felt- he raised up.

"I understand. I allow it. But Natsu, Erza, Gray. I wouldn't think of her alive anymore. Don't set your hopes wish just as much as you, that she save and sound. If you find her- no find her, this is an order from your master, and bring her back to her family."

The other members were silent. It was as if a heavy rain passed and the clouds seemed to get lighter. None of them wanted to believe their kind and happy sister dead, but they couldn't help but think so. However Natsu's words lit a small spark of hope in them and wanted to try to hold on this little piece of hope. Levy collected her thoughts and stood up determined

"Yosh. I'll try to locate Lucy by her guild mark, if she's still-" She bit on her lip. "Anyway please help me Freed." The green haired man nodded and quickly came to the table she was standing at.

"Let's start." The blue haired script mage put on her gale wind glasses and drew out her feather.

* * *

"Woah! Sugoi!" A girl with a high pony tail hold by a long silver band and a strand of hair on her right side hold with three silver beads ran through the main street of Tamin like a little kid and stopped in front of a little store. Her night blue cloak fluttered behind her.

"Ne! Nee-san, look! Aren't these amazing?"

Another tall girl with dark violet hairs followed her.

"Hmm, so you like things like this? Wanna take a look?" Lucy nodded eagerly and ran through the door before the older could say anything else. Latter chuckled and also stepped in.

_Ding ding ding_

As the wooden door closed behind her, the poison mage looked around. The store was bathed in twilight and glass- and crystal-made lanterns and balls hang down everywhere from the ceiling and long staffs. Little statue-like fire container stood in the tall shelves and all of the beautiful formed and carved lacrima and lamps glowed in a mysterious dim light. It smelled like joss sticks as a few of them stuck in a dangling bowl –of course made from crystal- filled with ash. Dust whirled around as little shining particles in the light coming through the round colored window in the ceiling.

"Coming." A female, a bit hoarse voice came from the door behind the wooden counter. The younger mage already started to look around and inspected a marble-like lacrima, which glowed in a warm silvery light. Cassia walked towards the shelves. She looked at a small snake figure, which body was partly transparent and partly strangely clouded, as if filled with fog. The head hold a small space for a black candle in the mouth and the eyes stared back at the rogue in a green light. Somehow it was scary.

"That candle is made of the wax of lillaby-hornets. It can burn for days." The violette flinched. A small elderly woman stood beside her. She was probably the owner. "The color of the light can be changed by adding different oils to the wax, if you prefer other shades. Are you interested?"

Cassia shook her head. "I am only here to accompany my sister." The little baa-san nodded. "Soka. That girl got a good eye. She instantly picked out one of the most valuable items in this store."

Lucy still got the small bead-like thing in her hand. Her friend walked over.

"Lulu, what is that?" At a closer look, the "marble" was actually a pendant, surrounded with amazing ornaments looking like runes and a silver foxlike creature guarded it with its body in a complicated loop. Its tail connected with a thin nearly invisible silver-made string. The tiny chain-links were formed like hexagons.

"I am not so sure myself. But it seems, it can store magical energy. And also, look-" She increased her energy flow into the glass-bead a bit. It started to shine brightly instead of glowing dimly like before.

"Isn't this handy?"

"There's actually much more to it, oujou-chan." This time it was the blonde who flinched. She nearly dropped the precious item. The silver-haired shop owner pointed at the lacrima.

"It also has a protection function, but this is something you have to recharge every time after using it. Though it takes a lot of energy it is worth it. Except of a few grand magics, it can stop three attacks in a fight, no matter how strong they are. If you prepared it before, that is."

The golden-eyed girl whistled. "Not bad, huh, Lulu?"

"Also it has aera imbedded in it-"

"AH, I know that magic!" Lucy blurted out. She blushed.

"Erm, please continue…" Thoughts of Happy floated through her mind and she smiled a bit. That lead her to Natsu and then Gray, their bickering which instantly reminded her of Erza and then Mirajane, Levy, Wendy and-

"Well, this magic as you seem to know originates from the exceeds, but this magic already existed in Ankara 1500 years ago. It seems there had already been incidents of exceeds stranding in Earthland and people researched their magic a bit." The stellar mage's eyes became wider. "You know of Edolas?"

The shop owner ignored her. "It is compatible with humans due to these runes-" her fingers pointed at a line of twisted runes on the north of the pendant. "- and solidifies as nearly invisible wings. It consumes your own power to use it. Of course, as you just found out, you can also just store a lot of magical energy into it and this source could keep up aera quite a long time."

"Wow, that's quite useful." Cassia leaned over to look at the pendant once again, this time with more interest.

The silver-haired elderly nodded approvingly. "Yes it is. But that's only the powers we have found out about it until now. These ornaments consist of many complicated and lost magical scripts and languages. So no one nowadays knows anymore what else it is able to perform." Lucy noted to ask Levy about them, if she got to see her again.

"How old is this?"

"Approximately 1300 years old."

Lucy jawdropped. "And it looks nothing like it."

"That's one of its magics."

The celestial sorceress thought about it. She seemed troubled.

"I guess you REALLY want it, but don't have any money left?" Her sis placed an arm around her.

"Mhmm." She nodded.

"How much is this, baa-chan?"

"Two million jewels."

"WHAT?!" Both girls eyes bulged out. That was as much as forty silver keys.

"But you are the first one to take interest in this little thing, that's why I'll give it to you for the half of it."

"Ah, that's bad~ I don't have any money left." Lucy was really down.

"Baa-chan, I'll buy it for my little sis." The old woman smiled.

"Mate yo! That's a high sum Cassia!" The assassin turned around to her smiling wickedly.

"I'll have you work your ass off for this. This makes you my slave! Muhahaha!" An evil aura surrounded her.

Lucy sweatdropped.

* * *

They arrived in Tamin after four weeks training at the Wound of Sathrunryatar. Cassia started to teach her combat and stealth technics as she promised.

_There are a lot of different combat styles in Earthland and they are all connected and originate from each other. I won't teach you a specific one. I will start to teach you the basics that apply to every martial art. Later I'll start to teach you different moves basing on different styles. In the end you will be able to use a unique style, that consists on all the fighting styles I can teach you. And that's a lot. How your own style will be like, depends on your personal preferences towards different movements and talent._

The blonde sighed. She had been sitting there with sparkling eyes and imagined herself super powerful and beating her enemies with ease in a cool way. But it took her a whole month just to barely learn the basics. The easiest of easiest. It was going to take a long time until she could move the way Cassia did during fight. She only watched her once going against a mountain kahebi, a huge white snake that lives in large caves. She shuddered at the memory.

They arrived in town two days before the firefly festival and after a _very _long begging session the rogue finally agreed to stay at least until the first day of the festivals were over. Just like she did from time to time during the weeks in the mountains, she disappeared somewhere again when they arrived. The inn they were staying in was in a calmer alley which was all twisted and full stairs leading the pavement up and down. It had a comfortable feeling to it and – just like everywhere in this town – the buildings all had pretty colored cloth-lampions.

Since she owed Cassia quite a big sum already plus the money for the pendant, Lucy decided to look at the public request boards at the taverns. The quests open for all people, not only guild members, were either strange, really low paid or very dangerous. She found such in the "Pickled Mushroom" a quite ordinary little saloon three streets away.

As she left the bar she began to read her mission in detail while escaping from the pink haired dude with tons of piercing in his face. He wanted to get her one of his _special _cocktail, but after she saw what he put in (mushrooms of course and other "appetizing" things), she fled in an instant. His hair was more piggy pink than rose pink like the ones of Natsu. No question which she liked better.

**_Request to retrieve an item that ran away_**

_Target: The sign stamp of Mr L. Luddonguard. _

_Location: In the body of his pet winged frog _

_Special traits: Frog is blue white spotted, can't swim_

_Dangers: Frog bites, extremely high speed of target, horrible voice_

_Reward: 1,5 million jewels_

_Ps. Don't hurt my Darling!_

That was more than enough to pay her debts back, that is, if she did found that frog. Better start asking around.

* * *

"Aah, what's with this!" After asking about half the town about that damn frog, she was either not taken serious or people didn't know. She sat down at the edge of a fountain in town. Little paper-lanterns formed like flowers floated on the water surface and glowed dimly.

"Daijobu,o-nee san?" The Fairy Tail mage looked up. A little boy stood next to her and stared at her with big light violet eyes. She smiled a bit.

"Yeah, I am fine. I'm just a bit frustrated right now."

The boy tilted his head to the left.

"Why?"

"Well, I am searching for something…" The little boy suddenly laughed behind his hand.

"O-nee san no baaaka. I bet you are also searching for that stupid frog!"

A vein on Lucy's forehead twitched. "Ah soka? Then why don't you tell this baka-nee-san about that stupid frog?"

The boy ran away with his arms hold up like an airplane.

"Not telling you!" And he stuck his tongue out.

"But because Nee-san is a baka, I'll tell her to go to the forest at the east."

"Kono gaki…" Lucy stood up with a clenched fist, but then sat down slowly again. She sighed again. Deeply. Well, this was her only clue. Why not going to the eastern forest?

* * *

Lucy found the frog immediately. That wasn't very hard. 'Cause the frog was _huge_.

"Domo…hahaha." She walked a few feet back nervously. The frog just stared at her. How the hell was she supposed to get anything out of this monster?

Then suddenly it let out unbelievable loud croak. The surrounding trees were bent back due to the shockwave.

"Kyaaaa!" Lucy crossed her arms in front of her head and tried to stay on the ground. She opened her eyelid a little bit and saw a flash of gold in the mouth of the frog. Bet it was the stamp! But she would have to think of a way to get it without killing the pet-frog. While she was still in thoughts, the frog decided to attack her – well, stomp her.

She jumped back and softly landed on a tree behind her in a cowering stance. The branch jigged up and down with quiet creaks.

"Loke."

"I am here." Leo appeared next to her. ´They watched the rampaging frog through the azure blue leaves.

"We have to get an item out of that monsters mouth, a stamp. I couldn't get a good look at it… I am going to provoke him and you observe its mouth." Loke nodded and she jumped off behind the branch, grabbed it once more to lessen the falling speed and let go. She actually landed upright. Normally she would just end up lying pitiful on the ground with her face in the grass.

She breathed in deeply. "OOOII, YOUFATUGLYFROGLOOKOVERHERE!" She took off her new pendant and hold it in front of her. With tightly closed eyes she lit it. The bright light filled the clearing and the poor frog got blinded by it. It let out a painful cry and reached out to hit the blonde.

"Ahhhh!" The light disappeared and Lucy crashed against a tree with her left shoulder.

"Lucy!" Loke jumped off and hurried to her. "Are you alright!?"

"Mmm, I think. At least nothing is broken. But man, what a strength! " She stood up holding her arm. "Did you saw anything?"

"Yes, I did. The golden stamp is wrapped by its tongue." He his eyes left the blue beast for a second and flashed to his master.

"It seems you have to explain me a few things, princess."

"Ah, don't call me that! It reminds me off the weak girlie woman I am." Loke raised a brow. She was the one herself who told Virgo to call her that. She changed while he didn't see her.

"So we have to get this monster to stuck its tongue out. Look out Loke!" The frog found them and his big and gross eyes stared at them watery. He opened his mouth and let out another exploding croak. The Fairy Tail mages were pushed back by the sudden force, but could barely manage to remain on the ground.

"I believe-"Loke started to explain his strategy, but was interrupted by his master who grabbed his arm and pulled away from the frog. Its tongue darted out and left a crater where Loke just stood.

"I guess we got our answer." Lucy said sarcastically. "Sagittarius." Her archer appeared before her.

"Moshi, moshi Lucy-san, at your service"

"Sagittarius, I need you to shoot out the golden item in the mouth of that damned blue monster. The moment it's tongue darts shoot it and please try not to cut the tongue off, understood?"

Sagittarius looked a bit confused but saluted anyway. "I am on my way Lucy-san." And he headed off to a spot from where he could observe them.

"Alright! Let's go Loke!"

Her Lion Spirit looked unconvinced. "You can just stay here, princ- Lucy."

"Are you kidding? I may not look like it, but I got a bit stronger and I am not going to hide behind you anymore. I am not going to let you fight alone Loke." She pulled out two daggers she got in town on the flea market, placed them with the tips pointing behind her and rushed off.

"Oi! Lucy, wait!" He caught up to her. The frog didn't seem to notice the two yet, its eyes rolled around in confusion, because his tiny preys just disappeared from his sight.

"Why did you leave Fairy Tail?"

"I didn't plan to. I got some kind of kidnapped."

"By who?" They were in front of the blue giant now. Lucy ran left while Loke aimed for its right leg.

"An assassin!" She shouted.

"WHAT?!" His fist lit up in the familiar golden light. Lucy jumped up in front of the other feet with her legs and pointed her knifes down.

"Don't worry, she's a nice person!" Her arms rushed down, and pierced the frog. At the same time Loke knocked the other feet out off balance.

"Then why does everyone in the guild believe that you are dead?!" They got away from their target just in time as it fell down with a sound like a meteoroid crashing. Dust was everywhere.

Lucy coughed. "Sagittarius, are you ready?"

"Of course Lucy-san."

"I didn't told them I left since it would cause Cassia and me problems, if certain people heard of it. It's more like Cassia won't let me. But why would they think of me dead?" She now spoke to Loke.

"I am not sure. I could tell them, you know?" They now stood in front of the frog and put some space between them and the huge creature. "I've been there Lucy and they believe you've been murdered. By your assassin friend I guess."

"Ah, damn it. How did they know of Cassia? Can't underestimate Master I guess…"

"Lucy you shouldn't do this. You have to let them know."

"I know… I want, but I-"

"No, buts Lucy. You didn't see Fairy Tail, how they were. I hid myself, but I really was tempted to tell the truth. They were crying. In the end I decided to ask you first."

"Loke, the frog."

"I know." The beast heaved itself up again, angered and covered in dust. It cried into the sky. The moment it spotted them, it used its tongue to attack the two over the long distance.

"Now Sagittarius!"

"Understood, moshi moshi!" His arrow seemed to come out of nowhere and the frog tongue and the projectile crossed path right at the tip where the golden stamp was located. With a _clank_ the item was shot out of the grip and landed in the dust.

The stellar mage immediately reached into her pocket to take out a small dart. With all her strength she threw it towards the pet frog and it hit between its nostrils. First nothing happened. It didn't move for seconds. Then, suddenly it fell down again with still open eyes.

"Did you – just kill it?" Loke's voice was a wisper.

"Nope. It's just tranquilizing stuff."

"And a quite strong substance, huh…" Lucy laughed a bit at Loke's impressed face.

"I better head back to town to get someone carry it to its master. And about the guild, Loke." She hooked the two keys back into her belt. "I will do something about it. Don't worry, I will speak with Cassia." She reached for the stamp.

"Alright. Then- see you princ-" Lucy shoot him a death glare. "-Lucy."

"Bye Loki, bye Sagittarius. Thanks as always. Greet the others!"

Loke waved and Sagittarius saluted as both of them disappeared. Lucy turned around and took a long look at her source of money.

"Now, how am I going to get you back to town?"

* * *

It was evening and the firefly-festival already began. Lucy and Cassia sat on the statue of the fountain, where the blonde rested earlier. The warm light let the water pouring out of the mouth of the Ocean empress, as people called the sculpture, looked like liquid gold. It reminded her of Aquarius.

Big bubbles slowly came up from the water surface and were filled with dancing sparks which seemed to be living. One of them popped right in front of the violette and covered her face in golden dust. The younger had to laugh. They didn't spoke much. Earlier they wandered around from stand to stand and chatted a lot. Now, there was a peaceful, content silence. It reminded Lucy of her home and she smiled a bit. Perhaps she was getting homesick.

The streets where filled with people and little children ran around with lampions in their hands. Since their colorful little paper lanterns didn't burn for real, it was harmless. The lights were everywhere, just floating around, hanging down, flying high into the night sky or swimming in water. The traveling mages also let a so called heavens light fly. People write their wished on it and let them go on journey. Both of them wrote something down, but they didn't tell each other what. After they finished writing on the opposite sites they just let it go without looking at the others wish.

Lucy also found a silver key at the stand of a young couple who wanted to get rid of all the old things the family of the husband collected, passed on from heir to heir and left behind in their attic. It was Corona Borealis the northern crow. She had to summon it yet, but she already knew a few things about this spirit. It was one of the rare silver keys who form a pair with another. The Corona Borealis power wasn't very powerful itself, however if combined with the spirit of Corona Austrina, the southern crown, their power was supposed to match the ones of the zodiac keys with ease.

She also talked about Fairy Tail with Cassia. She agreed to let the master know, what Lucy was doing and at least tell the guild that she wasn't dead. After a long discussion that is.

"Here." She flinched. A bronze apple flew towards her and she barely caught it. "

Cassia came back after buying something earlier and sat down next to her, leaning back on the huge shell in the Ocean empress's hair.

"What's this? Is it – eatable?"

"Sure." The older mage bit into it. It sounded normal. "It's an apple that cures any nightmares from the first bite on. You will never dream bad again. Only available in Tamin."

Lucy's eyes went wide. "Really? Sugoi…" She turned the shimmering apple around and brought her face near to it.

Her friend began to laugh. "You really believed that?!" She wiped a tear off her eye. The younger one blushed.

"This is a normal apple on which a coloring magic was applied on. The only difference it, that some parts of your body might take on the same color. Like eyes or fingernails…"

Lucy choked on the piece of apple she was just about to shallow.

"That's why it is a gamble to eat blue apples in hope for blue eyes. Look at her-"She pointed at a girl who's hair was cobalt colored. She was arguing with the owner of an apple stand. "But sometimes nothing changes at all – and it goes away after at least a week. Ah, and by the way… It doesn't look bad, you know?"

"What doesn't lo-Kyaaaa!" The stellar mage pulled some hair strands in front of her eyes just to notice that they looked like a mixture of hers and Erza's hair.

"Cassia, temeeeee! Why didn't you tell me earlier? " And with this the cozy atmosphere from before disappeared completely. While the rogue continued laughing, the ex-blonde began to curse and think of some way to lift the magic.

* * *

The river was even more beautiful then she imagined. After Cassia left for some business as she called it, without doubt, an assassination job, she decided to wander around for a quieter place. In town center where the big bridges were, people gathered in large groups so she followed the stream upwards and landed in some kind of park like area. Not many people were here and it was assuring calm. She stopped to look at the scenery.

Trees with hanging down branches dipped into the tranquil water surface and real fireflies danced through the warm and full summer night air. Small lotus flower like origami flowers floated downstream and hold candles in them. The frozen glass like water mirrored the lights in a surreal way and seemed to reflect the night sky above her head. The usual night sounds like creaks surrounded her and strange thoughts rose up from her mind's deepest corners.

"Come on honey." Lucy eyes snapped open. She nearly fell asleep. A couple passed her spot and woke her up. She shook her head a bit to get rid of her weird dreamlike state. The blonde stood up, got rid of the dirt on her clothes and walked away from the river.

The park was bigger than she thought. There were more people in the center and it was also brighter. To her amazement she found a maze in the more southern part of the park and without thinking she ran into it. A few people were trying their luck, but the most wanted to stay outside and enjoy the festival instead of getting lost in some labyrinth.

Lucy soon found herself in a larger area which seemed like the center of the maze.

"I know where I am going, dammit~" Oh joice. Drunken people.

"Senpai, let's had back to the dorms…Maria-san will be angry, if she saw us like this."

"That bitch of a dorm head can just- woops!" The speaker seemed to have tumbled.

"Anyways, I am not going yet." Three people appeared around a corner. Three men. From the look of their uniforms, they were students of the academy for royal guards. She always though these were only common in Fiore. A tall thin silver haired boy on the left, a brown haired normal, perhaps a bit drunken looking guy on the right and a red-brown haired drunken dude in the middle.

"Oi, look guys. What's this?" The drunkard smirked at her.

"Here we go again…" The silver haired muttered. The other one grinned.

"A lost lamb, senpai. How about bringing it home?"

"You're right. We are gentlemen you know, cutie? Let us accompany you."

"No, thanks." Her voice sounded cold as ice and she was surprised at her own calmness.

"Aw, don't be mean. Then at least reward me for my polite offer…" His eyes wandered down her body. She shuddered in her thoughts.

"You should go home." And she turned around.

"Come on little lady…" The soldier grabbed her shoulder.

"Don't touch me." It sounded like breaking glass.

_Smack_

The guy who touched her held his sore cheek with a surprised look on his face. His expression turned to anger rapidly.

"Temee… Now you've done it bitch!" He stood up, drew his sword and charged towards the blonde girl.

"Stop it senpai! You can't hurt a civilian!" The brunette shouted.

"Shut up! This bitch just slapped me!"

Lucy stood there. Her eyes were wide. She saw the sword in his hand. She saw him coming closer.

_badump, badump_

Her eyes relaxed. Her pupils became wider.

_Listen, Lucy. There are basically two kinds of fighting styles. The first uses the movement the opponent uses and focuses on dodging and saving energy by manipulating the enemies own attacks. The second type bases on offense. How to gather your strength to hurt your foe, how to guard from his hits. Martial arts means knowing, predicting the movement and body of your and the body of your opponent. Hitting special spots can lead to a fightless victory. Just by dodging bringing your enemies down. Kill them by concentrating on vital spots. It's strategy and strength at same._

Dodging the sword. She took a step aside. Everything seemed like in slow motion.

_badump, badump_

This was far easier than avoiding Erza's blades. The sword moved downwards on her right side.

_swhooooosh_

Her bangs swished away, a few single short strands were cut off by the blade, but she couldn't care less. Her eyes seemed empty; she was focusing on Cassia's words.

_badump, badump_

Using his body flow. Her eyes darted around, fixated his chest. There. He shifted far too much towards her. His center of gravity was already instable, moving. She took a step ahead and stood beside his underarm.

_badump, badump_

She grabbed his wrist with her right hand. Bend it. His screamed of pain as his hand broke. His sword fell down. Slowly, slowly.

_badump_

She pulled him backward, his right side completely unguarded. She ducked and turned her body towards him. Aiming her arm towards his torso. Crashed her elbow into his stomach. His mouth went open. And he fell. Fell. She let him go and stepped aside.

_thud_

Lucy flinched. She became conscious of her surroundings. Her breath was weirdly stable. She took a look at the young academy student she just took down. She just took a soldier down. She just ATTACKED A FREAKING SOLDIER!

"Oh, oh…"

"How dare you to do this to our senpai!" The silver-haired weak-looking guy stabbed at her with a lance.

"Woah!" The celestial mage let herself drop in a cowering stance. Now, what was she supposed to do? Normally ninjas and such would probably take him down by a cool whirl with their legs, but she couldn't do something like that. She wrapped her right arm around his ankles and pulled. Surprisingly that actually worked. But hey, he did look weak to begin with. While the sucker was busy tending to his sore head, the third began to attack her with a short scimitar. She barely avoided his slashes. The blonde decided never to complain about Cassia's dodge and run training anymore. While doing her best to get away from him, she tried to figure out a way to counter his weapon. Why not with another weapon? She took out her fleur d'etoile. Her friend started to teach her the use of daggers, but she felt safer with a familiar tool.

The last soldier jumped a few meters back as the magic trigged her weapon. The whip sparkled in its usual way. So he wasn't used to fighting mages? Then he laughed. "What are you trying to do with that short thread from that distance?"

"Ara, ara, don't insult the present Virgo gave me." She smirked as it shot right towards his left ankle and wrapped around it. A jolt and he landed on his butt.

"Aaand goodbye!" She hurriedly ran off. She felt really content and proud as she realized, she just beat some skilled warriors. She did improve didn't she? But then again: oh gosh, she just attacked royal guards. Guess they should better leave town the next day.

* * *

"Finished." Lucy hold out her hands and revealed a detailed origami crane made by light blue paper in her palms. She proudly touched its wings and blew it out of the window. The little bird floated a bit and then flapped its tiny wings to soar up into the sky. On the tail it said: _To Makarov Dreyer, Guildmaster of Fairy Tail_

* * *

Note:

So what should I say? Actually I finished this chapter long ago, but I am still unhappy with it. I also couldn't decide where to split it, so I kept it this way in the end.

Anyway, I found some interesting ideas in the reviews and will definitively think about them:D

Thanks for reading^^


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